S.F. life sciences hub lures East Coast venture firms

A second wave of venture capital firms is bringing an East Coast accent to Mission Bay.

OrbiMed Advisors LLC of New York and Boston-based Third Rock Ventures have set up operations at 455 Mission Bay Blvd. South above Bayer HealthCare’s research center. Third Rock took 2,000 square feet for its West Coast office, while VC titan OrbiMed moved to larger quarters that can accommodate up to 10 people.

Versant Ventures, Arch Venture Partners and a handful of other VCs with Sand Hill Road digs or already-established West Coast ties were Mission Bay pioneers in 2007, hunkering down on the fifth floor of Alexandria Real Estate Equities’ 1700 Owens St. But this influx of VCs carries some validation for San Francisco’s life sciences hub, said Third Rock venture partner Dr. Charles Homcy.

“If people are looking at the world like we are — finding great science and great scientists and the next innovative platform to revolutionize medicine — there are few places to do that,” said Homcy, a veteran of Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc. and COR Therapeutics. “This is one of them.”

The location already has paid off for Third Rock, which has tapped experts at the University of California, San Francisco, as it weighs a startup aimed at a sickle cell anemia treatment.

Third Rock has about $800 million under management and looks to invest in one company a year in the Bay Area. Its portfolio includes Ablexis LLC, which is also based at Mission Bay.

OrbiMed, with about $6 billion under management, will continue to tap medical device, pharmaceutical and diagnostic-focused funds as well as Asia, Israel and public equity funds from its San Francisco office, said general partner W. Carter Neild. It moved last month to the 3,000-square-foot Mission Bay office after a couple of years in One Embarcadero.

About half of OrbiMed’s investments are on the West Coast, Neild said.

“That is a great place to be,” he said. “We’re seeing a lot of opportunity everywhere.”